With the completion of a successful Annual Meeting, our focus now shifts to the Summer Workshop for our Committees on Accreditation to be held in Orlando, FL. This workshop is limited to CoA representatives only, but the discussions and materials that result will benefit the entire CAAHEP system.

 

The following paragraphs offers some information on other activities of CAAHEP and the world of programmatic accreditation.

 

Outcomes: CAAHEP Staff continue to work on the effort to assure that all of our accredited programs are posting at least one outcome on their program websites, as required by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Special thanks go to Accreditation Assistant Katie Davis for her hard work on this project. Please be sure that your program has posted the outcome(s) required by the Committee on Accreditation (CoA) for your discipline.

 

Invoices: Invoices for the FY 2016-17 fees to CAAHEP have been emailed to all institutions. Just a reminder: the fee for the coming year is $550 for all institutions with one or more CAAHEP-accredited programs. And please be sure that payment goes to the new address! If you have any questions, please contact Cynthia Jackson-McNeill.

 

Institutional Accreditation:  Recently, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) has put a temporary "freeze" on accepting new applications for colleges seeking to become accredited.  This action comes following criticism of the ACICS' handling of the Corinthian Colleges' closings. The accreditor is reviewing their processes in an effort to ensure that students receive a quality education that "puts them on a path to employment" (Inside Higher Education).

 

Stackable Credentials: While not within the scope of CAAHEP, there has been some interesting energy put into the concept of credentials, stackable credentials, badges and other forms of training that lead to a credential of some form or fashion. The concept of stackable credentials does, however, have implications for programmatic accreditation. There is an interesting article by Williamson and Pittinsky (2016) in Inside Higher Ed that helps explain the role of stackable credentials in the workforce.

 

Many of our Committees on Accreditation (CoAs) work in concert with sponsoring organizations and national and state level credentialing mechanisms (e.g., certifications, licensure, certificates, etc.). The value of the credential is directly tied to the quality of education that an individual receives. Hence, programmatic accreditation, including specific add-on competencies for specialties, will have a role in ensuring quality outcomes (knowledge, skills, and abilities) of the registrants. As programmatic accreditors, we will be working with our individual professions and credentialing organizations to ensure that individuals have the competencies for practice and are better prepared to pass credentialing examinations as one mechanism to validate practice competence.

 

Welcome to CAAHEP's New Board Members:  I also wanted to take a moment to welcome CAAHEP's new Board Members, Katie Kuntz, Glen Mayhew, and Amber Donnelly. The board is looking forward to your official beginnings next month.

 

For those new to CAAHEP, the CAAHEP Board is a working board of volunteers. It is through the commitment of the volunteers that CAAHEP is able to accomplish its mission. As President, I can tell you that the CAAHEP family and all of our volunteers are considered invaluable. If you are interested in becoming more involved, grab us at the next CAAHEP meeting.  We are always open to your engagement.

 

Keeping an Eye on the Shifting Winds:  As a reminder, one of CAAHEP's strategic goals was to increase CAAHEP's role in the education of elected officials on the value and role of programmatic accreditation in allied health education programs.  CAAHEP, with its partners (e.g., Association of Specialized and Professional Accreditors, CoAs, and others), has been tracking issues that impact programmatic accreditation in allied health.  If you identify an issue we need to be aware of, please feel free to contact and alert us.

 

In closing, I want to encourage you each to communicate with us and to let us hear your concerns and praises.  We will do all we can to assist you.  On a personal note, I want to thank the CAAHEP Board for their vote of confidence as I assume the role of President for 2016-17.  Let us hear from you.